A sweet remedy that’s worth coughing up for?

<div style="text-align: justify;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Ow1_QkW7NoURodKAktC3M3QYpak2ieZvp474mJR0I231xmrsdaq1VkyjgYNi_PMw7vgblJylJ9xMSEIc3Zd6JHvDGlYCeOn8axn_hMCu7ltPoQaIHYDnZcG8chlRcPcGi26dC_BIwVw/s1600/A+sweet+remedy+that%25E2%2580%2599s+worth+coughing+up+for.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="A sweet remedy that’s worth coughing up for?" border="0" height="640" src="" title="A sweet remedy that’s worth coughing up for?" width="597" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Experts says we need to get rid of the myth there are different kinds of cough</td></tr> </tbody></table> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> FOR such a common problem, treating a cough appears to be incredibly complicated. There are dry coughs and wet ones, tickly coughs and chesty ones and dozens of different elixirs and syrups designed to relieve all of them at different times of the day.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;">  </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> A recent survey confirmed seven out of 10 of us who buy cough medicines will choose remedies for a specific type of cough – and almost a third of us who use them have at least three different products in our medicine cabinets.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> But cough expert Professor Alyn Morice says we are wasting our money. “We need to get rid of this ridiculous idea of different types of cough. It’s a myth.”</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> It goes back to the times of myth and legend. The ancient Greeks believed all illness stemmed from an imbalance of four humours: black bile, yellow bile, phlegm and blood.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Bile soon took a back seat but bloodletting was a commonplace medical procedure up to the late 1800s and the prevalence of TB, which produces large quantities of mucus, meant phlegm was still considered important well into the 1900s.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;">  </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> However Professor Morice, who is head of cardiovascular and respiratory studies at the University of Hull and York Medical School, says although science has moved on, treatments for common coughs have not and most are still shaped by this approach.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “From a marketing point of view it’s a sound strategy,” he says. "But from a scientific view it is outdated. There is absolutely no doubt scientifically that it is hypersensitivity of the upper respiratory nerves that creates the urge to cough.”</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Most common coughs are triggered by viral infections such as colds and flu. Adults can expect to catch between two and four colds a year, while children can get eight or more.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Coughs usually develop within 48 hours of cold symptoms. Our cough reflex is designed to clear any obstruction from the airways, but Professor Morice says: “The virus hijacks this defence mechanism and deliberately makes nerves in the upper respiratory tract hypersensitive in order to spread itself around.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “Common coughs may present with different symptoms but they are all driven by the same underlying mechanism – this heightened cough reflex sensitivity.”</div> <div style="text-align: justify;">  </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQLaZONVoc57P6GOCC44OdsymzJXXary93qL0OmucLwsoG7CBhvlSfZ2-IlNTbl09LG7DD96j10-X7ID6-IEcImqJy5-7cYyZXHMYsw6XrkDdBD_NuWwec-nxK0ni5nE4Ak4d0fHScHO8/s1600/A+sweet+remedy+that%25E2%2580%2599s+worth+coughing+up+for+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="A sweet remedy that’s worth coughing up for?" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQLaZONVoc57P6GOCC44OdsymzJXXary93qL0OmucLwsoG7CBhvlSfZ2-IlNTbl09LG7DD96j10-X7ID6-IEcImqJy5-7cYyZXHMYsw6XrkDdBD_NuWwec-nxK0ni5nE4Ak4d0fHScHO8/s640/A+sweet+remedy+that%25E2%2580%2599s+worth+coughing+up+for+2.jpg" title="A sweet remedy that’s worth coughing up for?" width="596" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Almost a third of us have at least three different products for coughs in our medicine cabinets</td></tr> </tbody></table> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;">  </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJyHOwSNpQGFCF2PESKJesUrSGhjaovtmCdMuocUyaFu97UGKTE__QDpGoGb8Nobdhp4OXSndOCoLRLDlLXQ7KFQFBEDW4EFKPw0mGJMc8g15S-HsmHKuQ4H7cPssnPv2k5ZsK0GNZ6jQ/s1600/A+sweet+remedy+that%25E2%2580%2599s+worth+coughing+up+for+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="A sweet remedy that’s worth coughing up for?" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJyHOwSNpQGFCF2PESKJesUrSGhjaovtmCdMuocUyaFu97UGKTE__QDpGoGb8Nobdhp4OXSndOCoLRLDlLXQ7KFQFBEDW4EFKPw0mGJMc8g15S-HsmHKuQ4H7cPssnPv2k5ZsK0GNZ6jQ/s640/A+sweet+remedy+that%25E2%2580%2599s+worth+coughing+up+for+3.jpg" title="A sweet remedy that’s worth coughing up for?" width="596" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Honey and lemon are more effective than a placebo and a number of ingredients of OTC cough medicines</td></tr> </tbody></table> </div> <section class="pull-quote on-right"><blockquote class="nointellitxt ctx_blocked" id="nointellitxt"> <div class="quote"> There is no good evidence for or against the effectiveness of OTC medicines in acute cough </div> <div class="author"> Professor Alyn Morice, University of Hull and York Medical School</div> </blockquote> </section><section class="pull-quote on-right"> </section><section class="text-description"><strong></strong> </section><section class="text-description">So what is the best way to get a cough under control? A Cochrane review of over-thecounter (OTC) cough medicines, which analysed the results of 29 trials involving 4,835 people, found: “There is no good evidence for or against the effectiveness of OTC medicines in acute cough.”</section><section class="text-description">However, the authors did add that more research was needed because flaws and weaknesses in many of the studies meant the results of this review “have to be interpreted with caution”.</section><section class="text-description">Professor Morice argues there is clear evidence syrups such as honey and lemon are more effective than a placebo and a number of ingredients of OTC cough medicines, such as antihistamines, expectorants and cough-relieving diphenhydramine have also been shown to relieve symptoms – although he believes it is purely because they also help damp down cough reflex hypersensitivity.</section><section class="text-description">And now a study co-ordinated by scientists at King’s College London has confirmed that Unicough, the first new cough medicine to be licensed in 30 years, is clinically proven to reduce the frequency of coughing and reduce sleep disruption due to a cough.</section><section class="text-description">The ROCOCO study, the largest real-world study of an OTC cough medicine in Europe, involved 163 patients recruited from 18 pharmacies and five GP practices and compared Unicough to a standard linctus.</section><section class="text-description"> </section><section class="text-description">It found that Unicough “significantly” reduced cough frequency and sleep disruption after two days of treatment and twice as many patients taking it stopped treatment early because their cough had cleared up.</section><section class="text-description">The medicine, which can only be bought in pharmacies, contains diphenhydramine and ammonium chloride, ingredients used in a number of different cough medicines that have been proven to relieve symptoms, as well as levomenthol, a decongestant with a mild anaesthetic and cooling effect.</section><section class="text-description">But it also has a touch of Mary Poppins-style magic, because a spoonful of chocolate not only makes this new medicine go down, it also plays a major role in soothing the jangled nerves which trigger coughs.</section><section class="text-description">Cocoa is known to contain a compound called theobromine which helps to suppress coughs and perhaps more importantly, it makes it stickier and more viscose than standard cough medicines and this acts as what doctors call a “demulcent” and forms a soothing coating which calms and protects sensitised nerve endings.</section><section class="text-description">However Professor Morice says there may be other benefits. “We don’t understand all the receptors involved in a mechanism like a cough but I am absolutely convinced there is a chocolate receptor and the cocoa is going to have some additional effect.”</section>

A sweet remedy that’s worth coughing up for?

Experts says we need to get rid of the myth there are different kinds of cough FOR such a common problem, treating a cough appears to...

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Could pneumonia be causing your cough?

<div style="text-align: justify;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnIqdOMP1rycvP37VAP0KzajjnQn27UD_PQBhZ6OQMrqmlGzOAJ0jIZ2XBZcii8K5ZDamq8jK1YbTWZEZIujJGEjIGP0BSBtACbKKFDpQCkKe8O5GlgtzrejCTzL2qsKq6WIKk7xvbxgQ/s1600/Could+pneumonia+be+causing+your+cough.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Could pneumonia be causing your cough?" border="0" height="640" src="" title="Could pneumonia be causing your cough?" width="597" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pneumonia is expected to take the lives of 50,000 adults this year</td></tr> </tbody></table> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> IT STARTS with a sore throat, runny nose, sneezing and a cough, just like a common winter cold. But pneumonia is expected to claim the lives of 50,000 adults this year. It is only behind heart attack, stroke and cancer as the UK's major killer.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;">  </div> <section class="text-description">One of the biggest myths surrounding pneumonia is that it only affects the very old or very young. But while these groups are vulnerable to the bacterial infection anyone can develop it. Approximately 66,000 people of all ages are hospitalised due to pneumococcal pneumonia in the UK every year at an estimated cost to the NHS of £217million.</section><section class="text-description">It is thought the number of hospital admissions due to pneumonia has risen by 34 per cent over the past 10 years partly due to an ageing population and the fact that bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics.</section><section class="text-description">Last month an inquest in London heard how a five-year-old girl died after doctors mistook the deadly bacterial infection for a common cold virus.</section><section class="text-description">Little Fizzah Malik from Walthamstow in east London, slipped into unconsciousness as she was being fed in her father's arms and died five days after developing a temperature and rash. A post mortem examination found her death was caused by pneumonia, exacerbated by a virus that resulted in sepsis.</section><section class="pull-quote on-right"><blockquote class="nointellitxt ctx_blocked" id="nointellitxt"> <div class="quote"> Where it is left untreated it can cause serious illness and even death </div> <div class="author"> Dr Ben Marshall</div> </blockquote> </section><section class="text-description"> </section><section class="text-description">Welsh rugby star Gareth Thomas, 41, left, was struck down with the illness last Christmas and needed hospital treatment although he fully recovered.</section><section class="text-description">This week sees the launch of the Expect The Unexpected campaign which aims to dispel some of the confusion surrounding the illness. Pneumonia is usually the result of a bacterial infection.</section><section class="text-description">It causes the tiny air sacs in the lungs to become inflamed and fill up with fluid. White blood cells then travel to the lungs to fight off the infection, which makes it difficult for the lungs to carry oxygen from the air into the bloodstream and around the body.</section><section class="text-description"> </section><section class="text-description"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP9lchUapMBqPL2KWtUfCIdL-piH67CHqOMLUxHbz7QyzBT4e1glY_u5gZcCST-VHTfKt9RjKs_zRFtMaBS2lI96jQ9ZroBSjuIuJl67zRkTJdU88KorgmDnZjJX3We4T-JkZ4CKWk4oo/s1600/Could+pneumonia+be+causing+your+cough+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Could pneumonia be causing your cough?" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP9lchUapMBqPL2KWtUfCIdL-piH67CHqOMLUxHbz7QyzBT4e1glY_u5gZcCST-VHTfKt9RjKs_zRFtMaBS2lI96jQ9ZroBSjuIuJl67zRkTJdU88KorgmDnZjJX3We4T-JkZ4CKWk4oo/s640/Could+pneumonia+be+causing+your+cough+2.jpg" title="Could pneumonia be causing your cough?" width="596" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Welsh rugby star Gareth Thomas was struck down with the illness last year</td></tr> </tbody></table> </section><section class="text-description">The most common type is caused by the bacteria streptococcus pneumoniae, known as pneumococcus. Symptoms often start with a cough, fever and breathlessness leading sufferers to assume they have a winter virus.</section><section class="text-description">"We find there is still a lot of confusion between pneumonia and a 'really bad cold'," says Dr Ben Marshall, a consultant in respiratory medicine and pneumonia expert at University Hospital Southampton.</section><section class="text-description">"Symptoms are very similar, including cough, fever and shortness of breath. However pneumonia is usually much worse and is an infection that requires antibiotics and can sometimes lead to hospitalisation."</section><section class="text-description">The risk of pneumonia increases with age, especially for those aged over 45, or already suffering chronic conditions such as serious heart or kidney problems. Pollution, smoking and the weather are also risk factors.</section><section class="text-description">Even when pneumonia is successfully treated it can take up to six weeks to fully recover. "Even after recovery many people continue to suffer from shortness of breath and fatigue, often preventing them from going about their day-to-day activities for a number of weeks," says Dr Marshall."</section><section class="text-description">  </section><section class="text-description"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjyINlznCGH7X30rXUqt1IyQZaUzagtqeLSJHvH-Zs6hGyKwN34C4zXp6SZbI0SpvX4VowS-oAIt73WFHIcobDNNIHrMsFff1ouzC1MyZtu6ySRjZ42nbz8woa99e2RxyMM5y_bixHpIs/s1600/Could+pneumonia+be+causing+your+cough+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Could pneumonia be causing your cough?" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjyINlznCGH7X30rXUqt1IyQZaUzagtqeLSJHvH-Zs6hGyKwN34C4zXp6SZbI0SpvX4VowS-oAIt73WFHIcobDNNIHrMsFff1ouzC1MyZtu6ySRjZ42nbz8woa99e2RxyMM5y_bixHpIs/s640/Could+pneumonia+be+causing+your+cough+3.jpg" title="Could pneumonia be causing your cough?" width="596" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pneumonia symptoms often start with a cough</td></tr> </tbody></table> </section><section class="text-description">PNEUMONIA can scar the lungs and leave sufferers prone to further infections. "Where it is left untreated it can cause serious illness and even death," says Dr Marshall. "As we get older our chances of contracting pneumonia increase and so the public needs to know their risk, recognise the symptoms and protect themselves."</section><section class="text-description">More than 90 different strains of the pneumococcal bacterium have been identified, although only between eight and 10 of them cause the most serious infections. Babies receive the pneumococcal (PCV) which is given to all children under two years old as part of the NHS childhood vaccination programme. It is given as three separate injections, at two months, four months and 12-13 months and protects against 13 strains of the pneumococcal bacterium.</section><section class="text-description">Over-65s are given a single pneumococcal vaccination (PPV) which will protect for life. It is not given annually like the flu jab and protects against 23 strains of the infection.</section><section class="text-description">However many older people who are eligible for the free pneumonia vaccine fail to take up the jab because they believe they are not at risk. Others wrongly believe that the flu jab protects against pneumonia. The pneumococcal vaccine is thought to be around 50 to 70 per cent effective at preventing pneumococcal disease.</section><section class="text-description">•World Pneumonia Day is on Thursday November 12. For more information visit <a href="https://www.nooneexpects.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">nooneexpects.co.uk</a></section><section class="text-description"> </section><section class="text-description"><strong>Are you running the risk of developing the illness</strong></section><section class="text-description">• Are you over 45? </section><section class="text-description">• Do you have a long-term medical condition?</section><section class="text-description">• Do you have a weakened immune system?</section><section class="text-description">• Do you smoke?</section><section class="text-description">• Do you have flu?</section><section class="text-description">Seek medical help if have the following symptoms:</section><section class="text-description">• A cough which can be dry with yellow, green, brown or blood-stained phlegm</section><section class="text-description">• Difficulty breathing</section><section class="text-description">• Fever (very high temperature with shivering or sweating)</section><section class="text-description">• Chest pain which gets worse when breathing or coughing</section><section class="text-description">• Fatigue</section>

Could pneumonia be causing your cough?

Pneumonia is expected to take the lives of 50,000 adults this year IT STARTS with a sore throat, runny nose, sneezing and a cough, ju...

Read more »